


Not a Rat but a Lionheart

by mynameisyarra (orphan_account)



Series: Hogwarts Inter-House Study Group [2]
Category: Brave (2012), How to Train Your Dragon (2010), Rise of the Guardians (2012), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Bullying, Crossover, Gen, One Shot, and centaurs, bros being bros, kids being kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-30
Updated: 2013-01-30
Packaged: 2017-11-27 13:09:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/662353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/mynameisyarra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She was a rat, a traitor who befriended a Slytherin.</p><p>It went downhill from there.</p><p>(But in the end, everything was alright)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not a Rat but a Lionheart

**Author's Note:**

> Another thanks to Kate!
> 
> We will have another one-shot after this before we enter the second year, enjoy!

It didn’t take long until the whole castle dubbed them as Hogwart’s First Inter-House Study Group. Not everyone was happy about it, especially since they had the habit of crashing into other Houses’ tables. The Hufflepuff was too polite (and perhaps scared) to shoo them away. The Ravenclaws were too fascinated, or just didn’t care, or maybe they respected Jack for reading the rulebook for them. And The Slytherins, they weren’t vocal about their disagreement but now they have a grudging respect to Jack for finding loopholes (“Very Slytherin of you Frost”) and a healthy dose of fear and respect towards Hiccup (“Good job on hexing Luke”). Rapunzel seemed to be able to fit in at every table she sat, like a House-hopping butterfly.  
  
And then there was Merida.  
  
Too loud to be in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. Too _Gryffindor_ to be in Slytherin. And apparently, she was too _Slytherin_ to be in Gryffindor. She never noticed how many jerks there were in her own House until she befriended Jack. When she woke up, she would find Martha (Luke’s sister) giggled and whispered to her friends. The next thing she noticed was the rats that covered her bed. She snorted with disdain and ignored them, going about her morning routine. Her brothers had done much worse and they were only five years olds. Martha was clearly disappointed by her lack of response. “Rats.” She muttered, either about her failure of a prank, her rats, or Merida.  
  
Merida was a ‘rat’ now. Because she betrayed her House and befriended a Slytherin. Most of her housemates still acted civil toward her, but they lost the eagerness to even say ‘hi’. It was a huge letdown. Was this how Jack felt? Being a stranger in his own House?  
  
There was a reason why they never sat at the Gryffindor’s table. When they first tried that, the Golden Trio (Luke, Jacob, and Tatiana) made sure to make their stay hell. They weren’t so subtle about it, so they got detention in the end. But it was enough to make the four of them avoid the red table from then on.

* * *

  
Professor Pixar, her Head of House, once told her that it was good to have friends outside Gryffindor... but perhaps she could be more friendly to her own housemates? That blew her top.  “AH WAS THE ONE WOO WAEK UP WIT’ RATS ON ‘ER BEDS!” She was so stressed that her accent slipped again. She tried so hard to get rid of it because it messed up her spells, but it was still there apparently.  
He was surprised by her outburst, “Rats?”  
Merida took a deep breath, regaining control of her speech. “Yes, Martha pranked me. But it wasn’t bad, I have had worse.”  
  
Needless to say, Martha wasn’t happy to see her in the corridors the next day. The blond girl received a detention. “I’m going to get back at you.” She hissed venomously.  
Merida glared back at her “Bring it on.”  
  
“Ooooh, is that a catfight?” The two girls snapped their head toward the voice. It was Jack, complete with his cocky smirk and all. “I have never seen one before, mind if I watch?”  
Merida rolled her eyes, “Sod off Jack, I can handle it.”  
“Ouch! You wound me Sunshine.” He said with fake hurt.  
"You!" Martha turned her glare at Jack, "You got my brother in trouble!"  
"Pretty sure he did it to himself." He drawled. "Wait, which trouble again? There's too many to count."  
  
"Is it the one where I sent your father a formal letter? The one where I told him that his son tried to burn _my_ staff?" Jack said his eyes narrowed as he sauntered closer placing himself between her and Merida. "I wonder why Luke isn't in Slytherin, that was very cunning of him."  
Luke's sister snapped, "Don't lump him with your kind! He almost got expelled!"  
"I know! I was the one who told the Headmaster not to!" The white haired boy leaned toward Martha his most charming smile on his face. "You see Ms. Martha, your brother _owes_ me."  
"No he does not!" The blond spluttered.  
"That's not what your father thinks." Jack sneered, and for the very first time Merida saw him living up to one of his House Traits. Cunning. "Tell Luke to stop being an ass or he will find himself kicked out from here."  
  
Martha was furious. She whipped out her wand to hex Jack. The boy was caught off guard unable to see it coming because he was focusing on his threat. Merida on the other hand had her wand out in an instant, "Expelliarmus!" the wand in Martha’s hand propelled away from her.  
Jack looked surprised for a moment before instantly composing himself. "Nice aim Red!"  
The other Gryffindor scrambled to pick up her wand before frowning and storming off.  
"Rat!" she yelled back at Merida once she was a good distance away before continuing on her way towards the dining hall.  
The Slytherin boy turned to his friend with a raised eyebrow. "Rat?"  
Merida shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. "You should know that threatening a Gryffindor like that would end up with a wand lodged in your throat."  
"But it didn't happen, you saved me!" Jack swooned, "My _hero_."  
A grin cracked on Merida's face, "Whatever you say, Princess."

* * *

The next day, Harold dragged her somewhere during their free period. "I found something." He said out of breath and looking eager. She couldn’t understand why he had sought her out of all people. It wasn’t like they were that close, more like a friend of a friend.  
"Are you going to tell me where we are going?" Merida asked.  
"Nah." He grinned a little mischievously.  
"Jack is rubbing off on you." She said with amusement.  
After about five minutes of walking Merida noticed that they were going in circles. She wondered if she should say something, maybe ask again where they were going, but instead kept silent. After all, there must be a good reason.  
  
"There!" Harold shouted excitedly. On a previously empty wall, there was a shimmer and a door appeared. Merida was slightly surprised by this, but not by much. This was Hogwarts after all. “Come on!” She followed him and entered the mysterious room. It was round, the wall was covered in various tapestries that reminded her of her own house. Except instead of wizards, the tapestry seemed to be depicting muggles’ lives. There were various bookshelves of many shapes. There was trees shaped shelves with a hammock hung between. One was shaped like an igloo, Merida looked at the books and it was all about healing.  
  
“Merida!” Rapunzel popped out of the igloo making Merida yelped.  
There was a snicker from above, and Merida recognized it anywhere. “I never thought I would hear you scream like a girl!” Merida was ready to retort, but when she looked up, she gaped. In the middle of the room was a treehouse made out of glass. And it wasn’t a boring see through glass. It was colored glass, depicting dragons and viking.  
  
“You don’t think it’s too much do you?” Harold asked from beside her.  
“Joo maed all this?” Ack, her accent was slipping again. At least The Hufflepuff didn’t seem to notice.  
“What? No, no way! This is too advanced for me! I just imagined them.” Harold flushed. Seeing the redhead’s confused expression, Harold explained. “I found this place by accident. Apparently, this place has such strong transfiguration spell in it, it can make anything out of thin air! So, I thought, why not make this our headquarter? Since I don’t think we should be in the library together anymore...”  
  
Ah yes, The Incident That Shalt Not Be Spoken. Merida winced at the reminder. They didn’t get any detention because no one could link them to all the black goo, but Rapunzel was so dejected about that incident. “But still... this place is beautiful! I can’t believe you thought of everything!”  
“Hey! I made this treehouse!” Jack interjected from inside it.  
“Yea, but Hiccup is the one who painted it!” Rapunzel said cheekily. The Gryffindor was so proud of her.  
“So, I can just think of anything?”  
“Except foods! Remember what we learned yesterday?” Rapunzel reminded her friend. Seeing Merida’s and Jack’s clueless expression, she sighed. “The Five Principle Exceptions to Gamp’s Law. One of them is that you can’t make food out of thin air.” Jack and Merida groaned at the loss of opportunity.  
  
“Great, now how are we gonna fatten Hiccup?” Jack wailed dramatically.  
“Shut it you, I have enough Viking-ness in me to beat you.” Hiccup flexed his non-existent muscle threateningly, which made everyone laughed. Merida knew that Hiccup’s village was some sort of tourist trap, attracting people with the descendants of Vikings. She also knew that the villagers there took it very seriously. Berk still had sheeps and weapons. Real weapons made out of real steel.  
“Sure Hiccup, sure you do.” Merida grinned. No one had called her out on the fact that it was her first time calling the Hufflepuff by his nickname. It was natural to call friends with nicknames after all.

* * *

  
After finding The Headquarters, it didn’t take long until someone proposed an idea for an Adventure. That someone being Rapunzel. “Oh yeah, you did say something about Capital A.” Jack was lazily hanging on one of the glass branches. “Awesome.”  
“Yes! It is! We should go to the Forbidden Forest!” The blonde jumped excitedly.  
Hiccup almost spilled the content of his cauldron to the floor, “The Forbidden Forest? You are joking right?”  
“Nope!” The girls said in unison, popping the ‘p’ in the word.  
  
“I’ve been itching to go there too!” Merida’s eyes twinkled. “I _did_ promise you that we will go there right?” Rapunzel nodded and the two giggled like little girls buying new dresses. Well, they were little girls...  
“I’m in.” Jack waved his hand, and now the three of them stared at Hiccup expectantly.  
“You are not going to let me say ‘no’, are you?” The three shook their heads. “Fine, I will go with you.” Everyone in the room cheered, although Hiccup quickly stopped it, “But! We are going to go there with _preparations_.” He put emphasis on the last word.  
  
Merida rolled her eyes, “Of course! We are not amateurs.” She let out a list from her pocket. “First, we need ropes, then knives in case our magic can’t be used.” The redhead then stopped and turned to Hiccup. “Do you think we can bring stuff from here to outside?  
“Maybe?” Hiccup shrugged, “Maybe it will disappear without the room’s magic...”  
“Eh, we can still transfigure something first if it’s not working.” Jack said from his tree.  
With a nod, Merida continued, “Foods we can ask the House-Elves, they adore you two.” The boys saluted. “Hmm, do you guys have sleeping bags?” Rapunzel nodded, having expected an adventure. Meanwhile, the boy shook their heads. “Alright, we can transfigure them too, I guess?”  
  
“And we need potions too, lots of them.” Rapunzel piped in, “For healing and attacking.” She added.  
“Hold on, how long are we going to go on this adventure again?” The brunet started to look pale.  
“It shouldn’t be more than one night, but it won’t hurt to be prepared right?” The Corona Heiress smiled brightly, “One time me and Merida were lost in a forest, thankfully, Eugene was there. We wouldn’t be able to survive without him.”  
“Right, we can use the potions Hiccup made.” Merida crossed the potions part of her list.  
  
“Oh boy...”  
Jack laughed at his best friend’s expression. “Don’t even _think_ of backing out now!”  
“Me? Never.” Hiccup said with less enthusiasm. “And how are we going to sneak out?”  
Merida stopped on her track. “Uuuh...”  
“I know!” The Ravenclaw girl was really pumped up today. She closed her eyes and a map appeared on her hands.  
Jack perked up from his branch with interest, “What is that?”  
“I asked this room to show me the secret passages. I mean, this is an old castle, there must be some, right?” Rapunzel shrugged.  
  
“But we might not be able to bring the map out...” Hiccup pointed out.  
“That’s why we are going to copy this, manually.” The blond said with determination. “Oh! There’s a secret passage in the study area! There’s not many people who use it, especially on Sunday... we can do this guys.” There was a fire of determination burning in her eyes. “We can do this.”

* * *

  
When she got back to the common room, Merida was greeted by glares. Martha was sobbing, and The Golden Trio stood around her trying to comfort her. Luke then noticed the redhead first year. He got up from where he was sitting and stomped his way toward Merida. “I can’t believe you...” His voice was shaking. “You threatened my sister! You rat!” Luke raised his arm as if he was going to punch her. But the fist never connected. The blond dropped his hand, his face was scrunched up in an attempt to not to cry. “You are not worth it...” He turned around, back to his friends.  
  
Merida was shocked. Did that really happened? “I didn’t threaten her!”  
“Well you helped!” Jacob yelled, “With that Slytherin friend of yours! Saying that you will make sure Luke and Martha get kicked out of Hogwarts!”  
“That’s not what happened!” Merida said in exasperation, “Martha was about to harm me! Jack stepped in! That’s all!” No one listened to her. She was the bad guy here. “Please... you have to believe me...” Desperation creeped on her voice. “I’m not a rat...” she choked her words, “I’m not.”  
  
One by one, The Gryffindors started to walk away, back to their own dorms, leaving Merida alone. The warmth of the fireplace only made everything felt worse. Gone was the laughters she shared with her peers. She was a rat in the den of lions, and she felt so alone.

* * *

  
Merida fell asleep on the couch, nobody woke her up. It was already noon, she missed breakfast and all her morning classes.  
  
But she just couldn’t find it in herself to care.  
  
She already made up her mind and nothing was going to stop her.

* * *

  
Rapunzel knew at once that something wasn’t right. Merida didn’t come to breakfast this morning and she didn’t show in Herbology. She asked Hiccup on their way to Charms and he also didn’t see her at Potions. “Maybe she’s at The Headquarters.” He suggested.  
“But why would she skip classes?” The Ravenclaw worried at her lower lip. “She wouldn’t do that...” Rapunzel said fiddling with her hair, a nervous tick she developed at a young age, “We should check on her.”  
“B-but we have Charms in ten minutes!” Hiccup protested weakly, but the girl already sprinted off in the opposite direction. With a long suffering groan, he followed right after her.  
  
Rapunzel remembered that Gryffindor’s had DADA together with Slytherins today. Hopefully, Merida would be there, she adored Defence Against the Dark Arts and would never miss a class if she could help it. As she turned the corner she almost ran smack into Jack, the boy sidestepping just in time to avoid collision. “Whoa! Punzie! Hold up! Where’s the fire?” Jack said, with a bit of a smile holding her by her shoulders so as to stop her. “What’s wrong?” He asked noticing the concern on her face.  
“Jack!” Rapunzel looked up at him as he released her shoulders, “Have you seen Merida?”  
“No, I haven’t seen her at all.” He said with a frown looking between her and Hiccup who arrived behind her. “I’m guessing you haven’t seen her either?”  
Hiccup nodded concern written all over his face.  
“Something’s wrong Jack, Merida wouldn’t skip classes, especially DADA.” Rapunzel said worrying her bottom lip with her teeth again.  
  
The Slytherin furrowed his eyebrows angrily before walking into the classroom trying to get the attention of the half of the room occupied by Gryffindors, “Oi! Where is Merida?” They blatantly ignored him. “I _asked_ you a question, where is Merida?!” He shouted lifting his staff angrily  
“Jack! Stop!” Rapunzel caught his arm while Hiccup stood at Jack’s side trying to calm him down. “What are you doing?”  
Jack shook her hand off and pointed his staff at the little blond first year “Martha! I swear if something happened to her--”  
“What?! You are going to get me kicked out?!” Luke’s sister cut him off looking outraged as she stood up from her seat, “You Slytherins are _all_ the same, you can only threaten people! Well, tell you what--!”  
  
“SHUT UP!”  
  
Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and turned in surprise when the usually gentle Rapunzel screamed.  
  
“Shut up! I can’t believe you! Merida is missing and you are fighting each other!” The Corona Heiress grabbed Jack’s arm in an even tighter grip in an attempt to contain her fury. “Jack! You don’t need to threaten everyone you think is hurting your friends! And Combe!” She turned, fixing Martha’s face with a glare, “ _We don’t care_! We just want to find Merida!”  
  
Martha straightened up in an attempt to seem taller, her eyes narrowed. “She’s not missing. She’s in the Common Room.” Martha sneered, “You worried for nothing.”  
“She missed breakfast! Of course I’m going to be worried you-you jerk!” Rapunzel snapped back before turning on her heel and storming towards the door. “Come on!” she shouted behind her at Hiccup and Jack, whose jaws were hanging from their friend’s outburst.  
“You don’t even know our password!” Martha yelled from behind.  
“Yes we do!” The Ravenclaw girl fired back with an angry flip of her hair, not even bothering to look back.  
Hiccup and Jack looked at one another with raised eyebrows silently conversing with one another before Hiccup let out a sigh. “We should go after her”  
“I’m sure Pitch won’t mind me skipping” Jack grinned cheekily before they both left the classroom running to catch up with the Ravenclaw.  
  
When Pitch enter his class, he saw The Gryffindors were sputtering indignantly and the Slytherins were murmuring to each other, but Jack was not among them...nor was the red haired Gryffindor. It seemed this was going to be a very peaceful drama free class this time around. Wonderful!  
Pitch didn’t even bother attempting to hide his smile “Class turn to page 394”

* * *

  
“Merida?” Rapunzel said as they entered the Gryffindor Tower, ignoring the Fat Lady’s complaints about students from other Houses. The Common Room was completely empty, no signs of Merida anywhere. “Merida!” She yelled again, hoping that her best friend would hear it. They waited but there was no reply.  
“You should check the dorm room.” Hiccup said, starting to feel a little anxious. Rapunzel nodded, walking up the steps to the girl’s side.  
“We’ll wait here.” Jack called after her looking around the Common Room for evidence.  
  
The long haired blond searched the girls’ dormitory thoroughly, even the secret passages she read from the map. She double checked the rooms that she believed to be Merida’s, trying to find any clues toward her whereabouts.  
  
Still nothing.  
  
"Think Rapunzel, think!" The girl shut her eyes tightly, concentrating, "Where could she go? Where _would_ she go?"

* * *

When Rapunzel got back to the Common Room, the boys noticed the color had drained from her face. Her eyes were blank, as if it was devoid of any thoughts. "Punzie?" She didn't reply. Her movement was slow at first, trying to find the balance she had lost. "Where's Merida?" Jack asked, afraid of the answer.  
  
Rapunzel didn't answer, instead she exited the tower quickly, leaving her two surprised friends. "Rapunzel!" Hiccup and Jack followed her. It was worrying how she didn't seem to listen to any of their words. Her mind was set on one thing, and it was finding Merida. They stepped outside the castle and the boys finally aware of where they were going. Rapunzel ignored the caretaker's angry yell when he realized too late that three first years were entering the Forbidden Forest.  
  
"Merida!" The Ravenclaw shouted as she braved through the woods. "Merida!"  
"Are you sure she's here?" Hiccup struggled to keep up, his wand was out. Jack paced the forest with ease. He gripped his staff with both hands, keeping an eye for trouble.  
"Everytime something bad happens, Merida always ran to the woods near her house..." Rapunzel said distractedly, murmuring more to herself than answering Hiccup. "Being surrounded by trees always calm her down."  
  
Hiccup wondered how much peace the redhead would get in a dangerous place like this. Probably not much. “Do you know any tracking spell?” He asked Rapunzel.  
“If I can use it I would have used it in the first place!” The blonde gasped and covered her mouth when she realized she had snapped at her friend. “I’m sorry... I--I know a spell, but it would only be useful if I use it on Merida first...” Rapunzel dropped down, she hugged her knees in an attempt to hold back a sob. “Merlin... what should we do now?” She knew it was near impossible to find Merida in a huge, new place like this. And she probably got them lost too. This wasn’t how she thought their first time adventuring was going to be.  
  
She felt a firm grasp on her shoulder and peered up from her knees. Jack was looking at her with a gentleness that he rarely showed, if ever. “Hey, don’t worry okay? We will find her. I know we will.” Rapunzel wiped her watery eyes and nodded. Jack offered his hand to help her stood up.  
“Thanks Jack...” Rapunzel smiled gratefully.  
“Umm... guys?” The two of them turned to Hiccup. “What is that?” They tilted to see what the Hufflepuff was pointing at. There were blue lights that suddenly appeared, leading down inside the forest.  
“I don’t think that’s a normal light.” Jack said as he scrutinized the yellow eyes the blue thing had.  
“No kidding.” Hiccup deadpanned.  
  
“That’s will-o-wisps... they usually appear to lead people astray.” Rapunzel explained.  
“So we shouldn’t follow them?” Hiccup asked for confirmation.  
“I think we should.” She said firmly, “We don’t have any other clue.” The girl didn’t wait for her friends to agree and went down the path.  
“This is going to be a habit, isn’t it?” Hiccup commented to Jack. His friend just shrugged and continued onward before the light disappeared. Hiccup sighed and trailed the path.

* * *

  
Merida walked aimlessly. She stumbled a few times and received scratches and bruises from her carelessness. It should have hurt, but she felt numb instead. She could cry, crying was good. But Tatiana was the one who said it was okay to cry, so she knew it was a lie. It was all a lie wasn’t it? When Luke said he wanted to be her friend?  
  
But then again, the look on the older Combe when he found out his sister was threatened... she felt bad, even though it was not her fault. Luke honestly thought that he was doing the right thing, trying to get Jack expelled. He cared, he believed in justice, but he was wrong. Merida was also wrong, but she realized it. Luke, on the other hand was blinded by the House rivalry and whatever view he believed in. He didn’t have someone like Rapunzel to remind him, someone like Hiccup to show him. He didn’t know someone like Jack to protect him. He wouldn’t believe that someone like Jack would protect him.  
  
She knew, she knew all of that. She knew she shouldn’t feel so helpless, so rejected. But in the end, that was what she felt. She felt like a rat.  
  
“AAAAAAH!”  
  
A scream pierced the air, snapping Merida from her self-pity. “Rapunzel?”

* * *

  
They really shouldn’t have followed the wisps.  
  
At the end of the animal-made path was a fifteen feet tall bear covered in scars and arrows. It towered a young centaur, who was beaten and bloodied. It was a hopeless situation, so Rapunzel did the obvious choice. “ _Confringo_!” She used the most offensive spell she knew. It was a very brave, a very Gryffindor, and a very stupid thing to do. The spell hit the bear and she fully expected the bear to be blasted. But instead, the spell bounced back. Rapunzel reacted quickly and duck before her own spell would hit her. It only made a burn mark at the tree behind the girl, and Rapunzel was slightly disappointed by her magic prowess.  
  
The bear turned its attention toward the Ravenclaw, growling and snarling, clearly not happy to have its meal interrupted. It lunged at her without any warning and all Rapunzel could do was to close her eyes and hope that it would be quick. A loud cracking noise was heard, prompting her to open her eyes and witnessed the bear being blasted away by ice. “Stay away from her!”  
  
“Jack! Hiccup!” She breathed in relief.  
“Rapunzel! Are you okay?” Hiccup dashed to her side.  
“I’m fine! But that centaur--” Rapunzel didn’t get to finish her sentence as they witnessed the bear rose again. “Uh oh.”  
“Run.” No one needed to be told twice by Jack.  
  
“AAAAAH!”

* * *

  
Merida felt her gut churned when she saw the bloody mess in front of her. “Are you alright? Talk to me.” She kneeled down to check on the centaur. The young creature only groaned, his eyes fluttered between consciousness. “Oh, Merlin.. hold on... hold on.” She ransacked her potions bag, trying to find something to help him survive. Finding the right one, she held the centaur’s head gently and poured the liquid into his mouth. Slowly, the wounds closed and all that left was the dried blood on his chest. “Oh, thank you Hiccup.” She murmured. Bringing her Adventuring Kit was a good decision after all.  
  
The centaur regained his awareness. He gasped, taking the air into his lung. “Hey, slow down! Are you okay?”  
He blinked and turned his gaze to Merida, “A student? Did you save me?”  
“I guess so...” Merida answered unsurely.  
The centaur nodded gratefully, “Thank you.”  
  
Unable to contain her curiosity, the redhead asked, “What happened?”  
“Mor’du.” The answer was short and filled with bitterness.  
“Mor’du?”  
“The demon bear, my tribe has been hunting him for years.” The Centaur flinched in pain, it seemed like the wound on his stomach opened again.  
“Don’t get too agitated!” Merida chided. “You need to rest.”  
“I suppose...” He agreed grudgingly.  “What is your name?”  
“Merida, what’s yours?”  
He hesitated at first but he gave his name in the end, “Floen.”  
  
“Right, Floen.” She nodded, “I think I have a salve here, hold on.” She took a green balm from her bag and applied it slowly on his stomach. It was one of the things she brought from home and Hiccup didn’t make. She probably should have cleaned the blood first but there was no water and she didn’t know any spell to do that. She doubted _Scourgify_ would work. “There, better?” Floen nodded, murmuring a soft ‘thank you’.  
  
“So... demon bear huh?” Merida had a bad feeling about this. “Say... you wouldn’t happen to see a blond girl running around, would you?”  
Floen scrunched his face, trying to remember. Merida waited patiently, hoping that he would say no. “I think so.” Oh, bummer. “It was hazy but I remember something gold distracted the bear away from me.”  
  
“Merlin’s balls!” She cursed, “Rapunzel, you idiot!” She stood up sharply, only to have Floen grabbed her cloak.  
“Wait!” He said, “Are you going to find Mor’du?”  
“I’m going to save my friend.” Merida pulled her cloak from his fist.  
“The demon bear is resistance to many magic, what do you think you can do with only a wand?”  
“I have to try!”  
“I know, that is why you should bring this with you.” The centaur reached for his bow and arrow container, which was scattered on the ground near him. Merida accepted the bow, which was red like her House. Inscribed on it with golden letters was the word _Lionheart_.  “The container is enchanted, the arrows will appear when you need it.” Floen said firmly. “Aim for its eyes.”  
  
Merida holstered her wand and slung the container on her shoulder, giving Floen a firm nod. “Thank you.” With that she rushed off.

* * *

  
“Ooooh, this is bad, this is bad!” Hiccup jumped another gigantic root. The three were still running away from the bear, with Jack shooting ice in between breaths.  
“Keep running!” The Slytherin yelled, even though he was so exhausted from all the spell he was using. He could feel his legs were giving in slowly and his lungs were burning. But he had to keep going. He had to keep them safe.  
Jack turned his heel toward the bear. Rapunzel saw this and yelled with horror, “Jack!”  
“Keep running!” The bear was getting closer and Jack prepared the biggest ice he could muster.  
  
There was a sharp noise in the air and an arrow cut through the creature’s ear. It landed near Jack’s feet as the bear yowled. “Leave my friends alone!” There she was, armed with bow and arrows, Merida was standing on top of a rock. She took another arrow and aimed it at the bear. The creature growled, not forgiving anyone who attacked him.  
  
“Merida!” The three let out a distressed yell as the creature charged toward their friend. But the Gryffindor was calm. She aimed her arrow and let it loose. The moment the bear jumped the arrow pierced its eyes. It howled and backed away. Merida shot another one, blinding it completely. As the bear trashed in pain, Merida jumped from her rock and ran toward her friends. Rapunzel held her breath when Merida ducked from the bear’s tantrum, missing its claws by inches.  
  
“Wot ar’ ye doing? Run!”

* * *

  
After making sure that the bear didn’t follow them, they took a rest in a clearing. Merida took a replenishing potion from her bag and distributed them to her friends. “You brought this?” Hiccup looked incredulous.  
“I am not an amateur.” She rolled her eyes as if it was the most obvious thing.  
Jack was miffed, “You know that after all these, we are allowed to kill you right?”  
“And no one would blame us.” Hiccup muttered after he drank his potion.  
  
Merida grinned nervously as she handed the potion to Rapunzel. The blonde refused to even look at her. "Look, Rapunzel, I'm sorry... I shouldn't have gone like that..."  
"We were worried..." Rapunzel murmured softly, still not facing her friend. "You didn't show up at all..."  
"I know... I'm sorry..."  
The Ravenclaw turned around holding her friend's hands. "If you have any problem, you know you can tell us right?"  
Merida looked down, her hair hid her flushed face. "I know, I promise."  
  
"Not to ruin the moment." Jack piped in, "But do any of you know the way back? I'm not following anymore wisps by the way." his question was greeted with silent. "Oh, alright, just asking." He grumbled.  
  
They leaned on each others as they rested. The potion was working, slowly but surely. They could feel their stamina returning. It was tempting to just doze off and forget their problem. But it was too dangerous, and the sky was getting dark.  
  
They tensed when the bushes rustled. Jack grabbed his staff and ready to fight. "Hold your wands, we meant no harm." The sound of hooves clopping should be their first clue. Jack lowered his staff as several centaurs approached them. "Greetings." A bearded centaur said, "My name is Chiron, the leader of my tribe." His eyes flicked to Merida. "The girl with fiery hair." He said and clopped to her. "Not only you saved my son's life but you also helped us defeating Mor'du, thank you." Chiron bowed slightly, which, based on the other centaurs' expression, was a great honor.  
  
Merida bowed back awkwardly, fumbling through her words. "Oh! Um... Would you like the bow back?" She reached the weapon, only to have Chiron stopped her.  
"No, keep it." He said, "You have earned our honor, that is the proof."  
Merida blushed, feeling accomplished. "Thank you."  
Chiron nodded. "Come, we will show you the way out."  
  
None of the students could keep the grin off their faces.

* * *

  
Headmaster Murdoch was a simple man. One perhaps would call him the most ordinary headmaster in Hogwarts' history. And they were right. Murdoch wouldn't even object it. After all, ordinary things led to a peaceful life.  
  
Imagine the panic attack he had when he heard that there were students entering the Forest.  
  
He quickly gathered the entire Faculty, cancelling classes in the process. "When did this happened?" He asked the caretaker who squirmed in guilt. "Oh Merlin, it's almost night..." Various scenarios of the children's death played in his mind. None of them were good for his heart.  
"Headmaster, calm down." Professor Black said sternly, "This is no time to panic, we must prepare a search party."  
"Right, of course." Murdoch took a deep breath. "Black, you will lead the search." The DADA Professor nodded. He was the obvious choice, since he was an ex-Auror.  
  
They left the office quickly. Murdoch wished he could stay away from the Forest, but he had no choice now. So he gritted his teeth and faced it like a man. "Are those centaurs?" Oh great, now he had to deal with them too. He didn't understand why his predecessors let them stayed in the woods. Nothing but troubles he said.  
"The students!" Cowell gasped beside him. Indeed, among the half-horses were the students that were missing. The teachers quickened their pace, approaching the group.  
  
The centaurs bowed slightly toward the Gryffindor girl before they left. Murdoch couldn't hide the puzzled expression on his face. The students looked alright, aside from some scratches here and there. Black glared at the four. The Slytherin was the first to speak up. "In my defense, it was Red's fault."  
"I saved your ruddy arse!" The Gryffindor barked.  
"Which wouldn't need saving if you didn't run away like that!" Frost--he remembered the boy from the Combe's incident- retorted back.  
"I agree, blame it on Merida." The Hufflepuff looked tired and sagged, poor thing must had been dragged around.  
  
Black didn't even skip a beat when he said, "Fifty points from each Houses."  
"What?!" Meyer, the Slytherin's Head of House, objected. "You heard them! It was DunBroch's fault!"  
"Oh? So only Gryffindor should have their points taken?!" Pixar said hotly.  
"Of course!"  
  
Another thing that Murdoch couldn't stand was those two arguing about pretty much everything. Thankfully he didn't have to step in as Black handled them. "Be mature about this Meyer, they all break the rules. It would only fair to give them the same punishment."  
"But don't you think fifty points is too much?" Cowell reasoned.  
Black raised an eyebrow and asked the children, "Demerit or detention?"  
  
"Demerit."  
"Oh god definitely demerit."  
  
"You hear them." The man smirked and Murdoch swore he took a sadistic pleasure in this.  
"Ms. Dunbroch, what is that?" Pixar gestured to the bow.  
"Oh, this?" She smiled proudly, "This is the gift from the centaurs!"  
"Centaurs?" Murdoch was flabbergasted, "They gave you all weapons?"  
"No, only Merida got one." Corona looked disappointed.  
"Impressive." Black whistled.  
"No, not impressive!" The Headmaster flailed, "They gave a student a weapon! Students can't have weapons! The scandal would be too much to handle if Daily Prophet got wind of this!"  
"But!"  
"No buts young lady! Throw away that barbaric thing now!" Murdoch ordered.  
  
"What?!" Surprisingly, all four students seemed to disagree.  
  
"Are you kidding me? Do you know how amazing centaurs' craftsmanships are?!" Frost was incredulous, which Murdoch didn't get at all. Who even care about centaurs' weapons?  
"I blinded a demon bear with this!" DunBroch held her bow tightly, not going to let go.  
"Demon-- what are you talking about?" The Headmaster could feel another panic attack creeping out to him.  
"Headmaster, perhaps we should listen to their story first." Black suggested.  
"I agree, it would prove to be interesting." There was a twinkle in Joyce's eyes, his curiosity piqued.  
"Alright then, let's get inside first. You four must be starving." Cowell said in her usual motherly tone. No one argued.

* * *

  
They got back right before dinner time. The students who were confused as to why there were so many empty seats in the Professors’ table turned their attention to the four dirt covered first years as they arrived with the missing teachers. “Is that a bow?” A Ravenclaw whispered.  
“Sweet! Barbeque!” Jack already seated himself on the nearest table, The Hufflepuff’s, whom already used by his presence and gave his seat immediately.  
“I still don’t understand why he prefers to sit with Hufflepuffs.” Meyer murmured under his breath.  
“Maybe because we are welcoming, Meyer.” Cowell sounded offended. The other three quickly followed Jack’s example and sat on the yellow table.  
The Headmaster winced when Merida placed her weapon on it. “We will speak about this issue later.” Merida placed her bow closer to her and glared.  
  
Their adventure left them famished and the Inter-House Study Group finished their plate as fast a they filled it. The others watched with interest and slight disgust as the four ravished their meal. Hannah the older Hufflepuff leaned to Hiccup after she saw the boy finished. “Where did you go?”  
“Oh you know, usual Dark Lord stuff.” Hiccup grinned when his housemates cringed.  
“You are still at that?” Rapunzel frowned disapprovingly.  
“Let the boy has his fun.” Jack hi-fived his best friend. Merida rolled his eyes but the smile on her face proved she was amused.  
  
“We are searching for the deadliest blood for Our Dark Lord’s potions.” Merida joined in, “Do you know that they have demon bears in Forbidden Forest?”  
“Merida!” Rapunzel admonished, but a giggle started to came out of her lips.  
“Ah yes, the demon bears. Good job on blinding it Servant Merida, you have been most useful.” Hiccup praised in the most dramatic voice he could muster. “Very good aim, I must say.”  
“Thank you My Lord, that was very kind of you.” Merida mock bowed and Rapunzel didn’t even try to stifle her laughter anymore.  
  
“Is that why you have a bow?” Hannah eyed it warily. Apparently, no one in the table noticed that the Study Group was just being immature. Or maybe they were also playing along. Maybe.  
“Yes.” The redhead creased her eyebrows, making a serious look on her face.  
“You guys are killing me!” The Corona Heiress made an unladylike snorts as she tried to contain her fits.  
“Wait, so did you or did you not blind a demon bear?” Hannah started to doubt the story.  
“Oh, Merida blinded a demon bear alright, but we didn’t get the blood.” Jack commented offhandedly.  
“Yeah, I think the centaurs finished it off?” Hiccup shrugged.  
“You guys are messing with us, aren’t you?” Another Hufflepuff asked cynically.  
  
“That’s enough.” Pitch loomed behind them, looking at the four with reproach. Although, anyone who saw the twitch on his lips would think otherwise. “The Headmaster wants to speak with you.”

* * *

  
Pixar knew that there were some kind of bad blood between Ms. DunBroch and her housemates. He just never thought that it was _this_ serious. “Rat, huh?” Meyer sneered, feeling triumphant over another prove that Gryffindors were not angels. Pixar didn’t even feel like disproving him. He felt his throat dried as he listened to her story. Corona held her friend’s hand tightly, most likely that she already listened to this story.  
  
“And then I heard Rapunzel’s scream.”  
  
The Headmaster’s face got paler and paler as the recounting continued.  
  
“I used Hic-- I mean Harold’s potions to heal Floen, the centaur.”  
  
Cowell looked proudly at her Badger. The gangly boy blushed when he noticed that.  
  
“He gave me the bow and I followed the ice track Jack left behind. I was lucky that there was a rock for safe positioning and the element of surprise, or else I would end up like Floen.”  
  
By that time, everyone swore that Headmaster Murdoch had a small heart attack.  
  
“I blinded the bear!” The girl announced proudly.  
  
There was a ‘thud’ as the leader of the school passed out on his desk. The Professors rushed toward him. Merida turned to Pitch and asked, “Is that mean I can keep the bow?”  
“Until the Headmaster wake up, why not?” Was his answer.  
Merida pumped her fist, “Yes!”

* * *

  
Each Head of House walked their student to the respective dorm. Pixar fidgeted nervously, trying to come up for something to say. He cursed his brashness and wondered how he managed to become a House Head. He wasn’t that good at handling children. “Ms. DunBroch.” He said, “I am sorry that they called you... ‘rat’.” The word tasted bitter on his tongue. “I promise I will fix this.”  
  
“No that’s okay.” The redhead fiddled with her bow, seemingly not disturbed by what had happened. “You can’t force something like this to be ‘fixed’. I mean, it took me a long time to stop being an insufferable jerk, and I needed a really huge shock to realize that.” She shrugged, “Luke’s not bad, not really...” She hung her word before reprising it, “Well yeah, he’s bad but he’s not evil. It’s not his fault he hated me, he thought I threatened his sister. It’s just... Nothing will be fixed unless people are willing to change... umm, sir?”  
  
Pixar didn’t realized that he had been staring at the first year. It was quite an insight shown by an eleven years old. The young Professor shook his head, smiling slightly. “It’s nothing, I just thought that you are very mature for your age.”  
“...thanks?”  
“But if you ever have any trouble again, don’t try to solve it by running into The Forbidden Forest. Honestly, we don’t need to give Professor Murdoch anymore heart attacks.”  
DunBroch grinned, “Aye aye sir!”


End file.
